Why Critical Theory Today Matters (IMHO)

The mere mention of “literary theory” struck me instantly as something with which I’d be unfamiliar. I’m not an English major, and a textbook with as conventional a title as Critical Theory Today seems so fundamentally “college-level English” – so esoteric, really – that I didn't think I'd care, that I believed I had no reason to be familiar with any of the concepts it addressed. Reading the introductory chapter, I realize now this was just a defense mechanism: in the event that I didn’t understand the majority of what I was reading, I could brush it off as being just the sort of rhetoric that had pushed me away from the study of English in the first place. (Tyson, after all, mentions “fear of failure” at the outset of the book as one of the two main reasons why theory is avoided [1].) As it turns out, however, the book (or at least Ch. 1) was downright comforting, written to gently highlight the advantages of using a informed, theoretical approach to reading -- approaches that the author appears to use and appreciate on her own time as well as in the classroom. I felt genuinely heartened by her appeals to learn theory, since, as she mentions, even our unsystematic, “raw” interpretations of text are informed by some sort of theory, whether we are aware of it or not (4). Thus it is empowering to understand and organize our opinions as they fall into certain ideologies. Further, armed with more “lenses” by which we can interpret texts, ourselves, and the world, we can articulate multi-faceted, fully realized, credible, and interesting literary opinions (not to mention great cocktail-party banter!) (10). This introductory piece perfectly “logic-ed” me out of the fears I had, making me genuinely wonder how much I’ve been missing all these years, reading occasional books for pleasure without any real means by which to analyze them.

It is worth noting, before I continue to heap compliments on Tyson, that the examples she used to exemplify the alienation felt by students left “out of the loop” by theorists struck a particular chord with me (1-2).

(This being a blog, I’m tempted to give boring personal backstory, so please bear with me.)

My 20th birthday resolution – inane, I realize, but the root of my renewed interest in English – was to become “culturally informed, “ to make up for all the ignorant teen years I spent holed up in my room, tuning out “boring” subjects like literature, art, and politics, and consequently losing touch with the world around me. (Moreso, this stemmed out of a sudden realization that I’m an adult now, and I no longer have my parents to ask whenever I’m curious about an unfamiliar reference. If I’m going to have valid opinions and truly feel intelligent, it’s up to me to do the research.) Thus I took it upon myself to start reading in earnest over Winter Break, and found myself with both classics and contemporary favorites, notably David Foster Wallace (very non-YAL, I am aware). I also began to soak up as many blogs and news websites as I could, including Slate, on which I found the attached article by Nathan Heller. Both a book review by DFW in his collection of essays, Consider the Lobster, on a biography of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and the Heller article, a review/analysis of a Zadie Smith book I’d been skimming, coincidentally found their way into my hands around the same time. While of totally different sources, both essays are firmly rooted in theoretical discussion – a discussion about which I was thoroughly uninformed as I began to read them.

The essay “Joseph Frank’s Dostoyevsky” (which I'm not expecting any of you to have read, but I’ll attempt to explain anyway) is presented in the context of a book that addresses all sorts of subjects: a lobster festival, September 11th, talk radio, and even the John McCain 2000 campaign. In no way was the book meant to be confined to the eyes of literary theorists, but that did not stop the author from including references to the “New Criticism” and the “intentional fallacy” – a concept that, needless to say, required a trip to Wikipedia. (I suppose having CTT would have simplified things a bit.) What I came to discover was that the “intentional fallacy” arises out of the same “death of the author” concept of which Tyson made special note (1-2). And with or without Wikipedia, I still felt quite alienated by this strange, pretentious language. I mulled over the article, which, I deduced, examined the concept as it pertains to biographers (if the author has no bearing on reader perception, is it ever worthwhile to study an author’s life as a manner of understanding their work?), but I couldn’t help but wonder, once I had finished, whether I’d actually understood any of what I just read.

Likewise, Heller’s article discusses how fiction should be read according to one author, Zadie Smith, whose newest collection of essays, Changing My Mind, showcases the many identities she’s taken on while pursuing different styles of writing. (This actually solidifies Tyson’s concept of one reader using multiple theories like multiple lenses, to shape many, often complementary literary critiques.) More importantly, the Slate article mentions the “death of the author” debate specifically, with reference to Roland Barthes, who first articulated this sentiment, versus Vladimir Nabokov, who believed that the author was in total control of the readers’ perceptions. Luckily, these particular concepts were somewhat clarified, but the article’s central premise – the idea of theorists contemplating, in depth, the nature of fiction – was utterly foreign to me. (Even more foreign to me was that regular Slate readers were seeing the same words as I was, but actually understanding them.) I obviously learned something (to the effect that I was able to backtrack, re-locate the article, and connect it to our class), but I had no idea of this at the time.

Long story short, I was elated to come across yet another mention of “death of the author” in Tyson, regardless of the fact that it’s a small, isolated element of literary theory, since its explanation in CTT was worded with the understanding of how scary these thoughts could seem to a new student. Her arguments for theory, and for reading her book to understand it, rang so true that the text came full circle. Moreover, realizing that a seemingly obscure notion of theory could find its way into so many popular sources emphasized how imperative it is, to me at least, that I use this book and this class to start “getting the references” within today’s literary (and greater cultural) dialogue.

I’m probably far over the required wordcount, but this post would be completely irrelevant without an attempt to justify how YAL fits into this mix. It appears that what we attempt to do in this class is further legitimize this genre of literature by applying the theories presented in Critical Theory Today, and further that doing so is only a natural extension of what I’ve observed in the essays mentioned above. If theory is indeed becoming mainstream, the most we could do to prove the literary merits of a particular style is to continue this trend, drawing theoretical analyses from the books that both adults and young adults are actually reading. This brings both into the spotlight, highlighting the most enlightening aspects of theory alongside the insightful, innovative nature of today’s best YAL.

Critical Theory Today

I just finished reading chapter one in critical theory today and the quote on page one that Valerie quoted rings true for me. I am supposed to be a teacher in two and a half short years. If I can't understand theories how am I supposed to teach them to my students? If I fail I will be failing more than just my knowledge, I will be failing my future students as well. The second part is that I love to read literature. I have loved reading ever since I was a child and my mom used to read to me. It is probably the main reason I am going to be a English teacher is so I can share that love with others. I feel like if I have to analyze everything I read I will love it less and look at it more like a job instead of fun. Then again when I learned to critically analyze the media, watching TV did not become less fun so I am sure it is the same with this. This is just all new to me because I was not taught theories in high school, I get to learn them for the first time now.

Week 4: Thinking about Theory; Graphic Novels

For Tuesday:

• Read "Theory as Prism" (Moore) and chapter 1 of Critical Theory Today. What has been your experience using critical theory? Did Tyson's experience ring true? Were you persuaded by her arguments that theory can enhance reading?
• This is not required, but you might also want to skim the theory chapter you will be reading for your group presentation.
• No critical reflection paper due. Instead, write a post or comment on the blog. Your contribution can be about anything: a key idea in the class, a response to a quote from the reading, a book suggestion, a link to an interesting on-line resource. Our main goal is to make this a discussion among everyone in the class. :-)

For Thursday:

• Read "Reading Lessons 101" (Rudiger). How does reading graphic novels differ from reading other types of YAL? What place do graphic novels have in YAL?
• Read and come prepared to discuss American Born Chinese. How does this text "work" as a graphic novel? How is it YAL? What questions or points in the text do you want to discuss? (You might think about trying out an idea with your group as the basis for the Critical Reflection paper due on 2/9). 

Going public

Given Tuesday's discussion, I'm going to change the permissions on our blog so that it is visible to outside readers. (I'll also set it so that others can comment.)

Remember that this means that you should only contribute posts and comments that you don't mind having out there for the world to read!

Response to Tuesday Readings

I was doing the reading for Tuesday, and there were a couple things in Critical Theory Today that stuck out to me. Critical theory is something that I was only really introduced to in the last few years, and my first interactions with it were really convoluted and frustrating (thank you, AP Lang). I don't know if anyone else took that AP English class in high school? If not, the basic point of it was to learn how to deconstruct the ideas and arguments of authors and figure out how they made their writing effective; it had a lot to do with analysis, and in general seemed rather pointless to me: why did I need to know how they made it effective, if I knew why it was effective? A quote in Tyson made me think of this:

"...reveal the two-fold nature of our reluctance to study theory: (1) fear of failure and (2) fear of losing the intimate, magical connection with literature that is our reason for reading it in the first place." (pg 1)

I can remember having this exact feeling when I was first asked to analyze - not discuss - literature. The longer I was in the class, though, the more I began to realize the importance of being able to take apart an author's writing. When we understand the how of what makes something effective, we really gain a better understanding of the why as well. We can get a clearer picture of all the factors that combine to give the words on the page the meaning we glean from them, and we can articulate that meaning more fully, as opposed to a general 'I really like this book!' It reminds me a lot of music: you can appreciate music with out understanding the finer details of how its constructed, but often the deeper an understanding you have of the mechanics, the easier it is to interpret a composers meaning and intentions. So it is with literature.

Amelia Bloomer list

The American Library Association also has a committee that recommends children's literature with feminist themes:  the Amelia Bloomer list.

ALA Rainbow List

Although the American Library Association does not have an award for literature which includes representations of GLBTQ characters, they do have a committee that is beginning to evaluate that literature. Here's a link to the 2009 titles: ALA Rainbow List

Does My Head Look Big in This?

I'm posting this even though I feel like I'm not necessarily an educated enough reader to get all of the implications. What do others think?

Language and YAs is NBD

Several people analyzed YA texts with texting in them. I think these cell phone commercials are brilliant:

• bff Jill 
• idk my bff rose
  

There's another one with the parents texting, but I couldn't find it.

MCTE Bright Ideas Conference Registration is open!

The Michigan Council of Teacher's Bright Ideas Conference Registration is open! This one-day conference for teachers is hosted by MSU each year. Author Gary Schmidt  is the keynote speaker. I'll make sure that I book talk and do a couple of read alouds from his work in the upcoming weeks. (His writing is beautiful!) 

The definition of YA fantasy

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/childrens_fantasy.png

Group Theory Project

I just sorted everyone's requests for the group project. The good news is that most people got their first choice, some got their second choice, and a handful of people got their third choice. :-)

I'm doing individual posts for each group, in part so that I can establish some common labels. If you want to see the whole list, I'll also post it on Angel. You can also click the "Theory project" label in the tag cloud to the left to pull up all of the posts.

Deconstructive theory group

Deconstructive criticism, presenting 4/08/10.
(In preparation for reading Crank)

1. Steve Blake
2. Kerri Molitor
3. Alyssa Salisbury
4. Charlotte Stephens

Post-colonial theory group

Post-colonial, presenting Thursday, 4/01/10.
(In preparation for reading City Boy)

1. Karen Fox
2. Drew Losinski
3. Becky Prohaska
4. Christopher Reed
5. Molly Roseland

Reader response theory group

Reader response theory, presenting, Thursday, 3/25/10
(In preparation for reading The Arrival)

1. Kristi Collard
2. Pat King
3. Anne Strasko
4. Dani Weinman

Queer theory group

Queer theory, presenting Thursday, 3/18/10
(In preparation for reading Freak Show)

1. Emily Berg
2. Emily Jarema
3. Guy Larcom
4. Katie Pizarek
5. Peter Wilton

Feminst Theory Group

Feminist theory, presenting Thursday, 2/25/10.
(In preparation for reading The Hunger Games)

1. Brandon Cumin
2. Stephanie Hennigan
3. Ashley Kline
4. Samantha Poirier
5. Alli Szathiewicz

Marxist Theory Group

Marxist theory, presenting Thursday, 2/11/10. (In preparation for reading Feed)

1. Joel Brockenberg
2. Chris Lopez
3. Lauren Ritzler
4. Brett Robb
5. Caitlin Schultz

Week 3: Does My Head Look Big in This?

For Tuesday:

• Read the first half of Does My Head Look Big in This? Take notes, write down questions for discussion and come prepared to talk! 
• Bring your coursepack to class so that we can look at the handout on what makes a good class discussion.
  

n

nFor Thursday:

• Write a 1 page reflection to bring to class on Thursday. You might choose to write on one of these topics:

• qHow is Amal constructed as a YA? For example, in what ways is she “in the middle” of childhood and adulthood? What does this text seem to offer as the “problem” of young adulthood?

• In what ways are characters’ “young adulthoods” shaped by intersecting social identities? Does it make sense to talk about a “generic” young adult identity?

• qIn terms of genre, would you call Does My Head Look Big in This a young adult book? In what ways does it seem to be successful or unsuccessful, as an example of YAL? (What criteria are you using?) 
  

 I'll follow up with a post with writing tips for the critical reflection papers.

Week 2, Preparation for Thursday

On Thursday we'll talk about YAL as a genre.  There are quite a few readings listed, so this is what I would like to propose:

• Everyone should read:
• Genre (Dubrow):  How do genres work on us as readers? What do we gain when we approach texts as a particular type of genre? (Pages 39-46 of the coursepack)
• "Young Adult Literature: The State of the Restless Art" (Cart):  What is the history of the YAL genre? Why are these books different than what came before? What are the trends? (Pages 3-12 in coursepack.)
• "What is Young Adult Literature, Anyway?" (Hertz & Gallo):  I guess the title says it all! (Pages 47-50 in coursepack.)

• Optional/Skim to see if you are interested: 
• "Adult books for young adults" (Carter):  What is a "cross-over" book? What does marketing have to do with the way books are categorized and sold? (Pages 13- in the coursepack.)
• "Young Adult Literature" (Crowe): What are the myths about YAL? What titles can dispel those myths? (Pages 27-30 in coursepack.)
• "Young Adult Literature: Rite of Passage or Rite of its Own" (Proukou):  Why is the story of the young adult so appealing to all audiences? How do characters relate to archetypes?
  
• Come prepared to rank which theory group you would like to be in:
• A brief summary of the theories can be found on pp. 451-456 of Tyson's "Critical Theory Today"
• Be sure to consider your schedule--you'll have work to do the week before you present, as well as during the week of your presentation.

ALA Award Winners

The American Library Association (ALA) announced its awards today for the best children's books of 2009.

Although the Caldecott Award (most distinguished American picture book for children) and the Newbery (most distinguished contribution to American children's literature) are the most famous awards, they also give a number of awards (or have categories within awards) for young adult literature. Here are a few that recognize contributions to YAL:

• Prinz Award for "literary excellence in young adult literature"
• Alex Award for "books written for adults, with particular appeal to younger audiences"
• William Morris Debut YA author award

Additionally, several awards recognize authors who write about traditionally underrepresented cultural and social groups. Here are just a few:

• Coretta Scott King Award for African American literature
• Pura Belpre Award for Latino/a literature
• Schneider Family Award for representations of people with disabilities

Awards aren't the only ways to find books, but they can be a start. (Later in the semester we'll talk about some of the politics and economic consequences of awards. Some argue that awards end up "censoring" non-award winning books as much as challenges!)

Week 2: YAL in the disciplines & as a genre

On Thursday or Friday of each week I'll write a post about what you can expect for the following week. If a reflection paper will be due, I'll also suggest several possible paper prompts.

During week 2 we'll learn about the different disciplinary "homes" for children's literature (including YAL). As Coats, et al, argues in "Schools of Thought", the study of children's literature looks very different in English departments, schools of education, and the library sciences. We'll explore these differences, as well as the overlaps among the disciplines.

On Thursday we'll focus on what it means to think about YAL as a genre.  What do we mean by genre? What's the history of publishing for young adults? How might a focus on genre guide the way we read this semester and/or the questions we ask about texts?

To prepare for Tuesday:

• Read and prepare to discuss "Schools of Thought" (Coats)
• Write your first reflection:  Read the description in the syllabus of the requirements for the "Critical Reflection" papers. Write a 1-page critical reflection on one of the following topics:
•  Find a representation of a YA. Do a close reading to analyze the representation of the YA and/or the implied audience. Try out the disciplinary convention of: Introducing the text, Inserting an example, and Interpreting the example. How does this text complicate or add to our in-class discussion?
• How would you position your interests in YAL in relation to the disciplinary map introduced in Coats, et al.? Where does this class seem to fall in this field? (You might use the syllabus and/or the “text” of this week’s class.)
• Find a blog related to YAL and read it as a text. What’s the focus or purpose? Who participates? What can you learn from it? How is the YA or YAL constructed in this discourse community? 
  

To prepare for Thursday:

• If you are a person who likes to read ahead, you might skim the articles listed on the syllabus. On Tuesday you'll be assigned 1-2 to read more closely and prepare to share with your classmates.

Welcome to ENG 308: Young Adult Literature!

Welcome to the ENG 308 Blog!

On Thursday, 1/14/10, we'll talk about how we might use this space as an extension of our classroom community.  We'll also spend some time in class talking about efficient ways to post and read blogs. (If you are new to blogs, you might check out the short video "Blogs in Plain English".)

At the moment the blog is set up so only members can read its content. We can talk in class about the pros/cons of making it public. If you are curious to see how MSU students have used blogs in other children's literature courses, you might check out:

• Reading and Responding to Children's Literature (Fall 2008)
• Reading and Responding to Children's Literature (Spring 2008)
• Issues of Diversity in Children's and Adolescent Literature 

That's all for now! Feel free to post or comment!